1690

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

stamens. The stem of the plant,in its native habitat, seldom riseshigher than 5 ft. or 6 ft. It di-vides into smooth branches, an-gular, furnished with alternateoval leaves, smooth on bothsurfaces, and doubly serrated.

The teeth are sharp, and almostalternately long and short. Themale catkins are 2f in. long,slender, cylindric, with numerouspediceled flowers. The femalesare subcorymbose, elliptic, withslender peduncles. Watson,who has given a good figure ofthis species, says, from the habitand inflorescence of the female,this plant may be consideredan jTlnus ; but the fruit, being asamara, “ claims it a .Betula.”

As the general appearance of the plant more resembles an alder than abirch, we have placed it under the former genus. It is a very handsomeshrub, and is well deserving of a place in collections. There are plants atMessrs. Loddiges’s, in the Horticultural Society’s Garden, and in some ofthe nurseries.

App. i. Other Species of A'lnus.

The genus ,4'lnus, Mr. Royle informs us in his admirable Illustrations , “ has the same distributionin the Himalayas that it has in the northern hemisphere; that is, it occurs in moist situations, andalong the course of rivers. A. obtusifblia Royle is very abundant on the banks of the Jutnna andTonce. A. elonghta Royle occurs in Cashmere; and A. nepalensis Wall. PI. As. Rar., 1.131., ori themountains surrounding the valley from which it was named.” ( Must ., p. 341.) It appears probable,that, of the above species, at least A. nepalensis, a tree from 30 ft. to 40 ft. high, may prove sufficientlyhardy to bear the climate of London ; and we hope it may soon be introduced.

Genus II.

.BE'TULA Tourn. The Birch. Lin. Syst . Monce'cia Polyandria.

Identification. Tourn., t. 360.; Lin. Gen., 485.; Juss., 409.; FI. Br., 1011.; Comp., ed. 4., 157.;

Lam., t. 760.; Gsertn., t. 90.; Lindl. Nat. Syst, Bot., p.

Synonymes. Bouleau, Fr. ; Betula, Italy Abedul, Span. ; BetuIIa, Port. ; Birke, Ger. ; Berk,butch ; Birk, Danish and Scotch y Biork, or Bork, Swedish ; Beresa, Russian y Brzoza, Polish.Derivations. From bctu, its Celtic name; or, according to others, from the Latin word batuere, tobeat; from the fasces of the Roman lictors, which were always made of birch rods, being used todrive back the people. Pliny derives the name from bitumen.

Description, Sfc. The species are chiefly deciduous trees, some of which areof large size; but several of the species are shrubs. They are natives ofEurope, chiefly in the most northern parts, or in high elevations in the south;of North America; and some of them of Asia. They are generally found inmountainous rocky situations in the middle of Europe; but they grow wildin plains and peaty soils in the northern regions. The common birch is oneof the hardiest of known trees; and there are only one or two other speciesof ligneous plants which approach so near to the North Pole. The commonbirch has been known from the earliest ages ; and it has long been the mostuseful tree to the inhabitants of the extreme north of Europe ; as the canoebirch has been to those of the north of North America. The species all ripenseeds in the climate of London, and are all of the easiest culture in anyordinary soil; but, being hair-rooted, they do not grow so well in very strongclays ; nor do plants of this genus, when raised from layers or cuttings, growso freely as in the case of some other genera. The leaves of the birch having